Railway truck roll stabilizer and draft link



July 15, 1969 R. L. LICH RAILWAY TRUCK ROLL STABILIZER AND DRAFT LINK Filed Feb. 20, 1967 INVENTOR F|G- 3 RICHARD L. LICH ATTORNi/W United States Patent US. Cl. 105199 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The combination in a railway vehicle suspension of means opposing body roll with link means for transmitting draft and retardation forces between relatively movable parts of the suspension.

The invention relates to railway rolling stock and consists particularly in a railway vehicle suspension having combined roll stabilizing and draft link means.

Railway vehicle bodies particularly if supported on very soft or low-rate spring systems have a pronounced tendency to roll about longitudinal axis, with considerable discomfort to the passengers.

It is accordingly among the objects of the invention to provide improved means for preventing objectionable roll in railway vehicle spring suspensions, to provide such roll stabilizing means in combination with means for transmitting draft forces between spring-supported and springsupporting members of a railway vehicle suspension, and to provide draft-transmitting anchor means constructed and arranged to prevent substantial roll of the supported vehicle body.

The foregoing and additional more detailed objects and advantages of the invention are achieved by the construction described hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a railway vehicle truck embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the truck illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line 33 of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the anchor pivot block, on line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on line 55 of FIG. 4.

The numeral 1 designates railway flanged wheels mounted in transversely spaced pairs on axles 2 and 3. Axles 2 and 3 are rotatably journaled at their ends in boxes 5, which are in turn vertically slidably mounted in pedestal jaws 7 of transversely spaced longitudinally extending truck frame side members 9. Side members 9 are rigidly connected to each other intermediate their ends by a transverse transom to form a rigid truck frame, preferably of one-piece cast metal construction. For supporting the truck frame from the axles, longitudinally extending equalizer beams 13 are supported at their ends on boxes 5 and, intermediate their ends mount upstanding springs 15, on which the frame side members 9, 9 rest.

At its center, transom 11 is provided with an upwardly facing pivot central bearing 17, on which is supported a transversely extending bolster member 19 for swivelling movements about the vertical axis of the central bearing. At its ends bolster 19 mounts upright springs 21, and car body underframe 23 rests on springs 21.

For transmitting longitudinal forces (acceleration and deceleration) between bolster 19 and underframe 23, and providing parallel depression of body-supporting springs 21 so as to minimize body roll, underframe 23 is provided at each side, outwardly of the truck frame, with 3,455,252 Patented July 15, 1969 "Ice transversely spaced pairs of depending brackets 25, and bolster 19 is provided at its ends with depending brackets 27, spaced apart lengthwise of the truck and body from brackets 25.

Body brackets 25 are circularly apertured transversely of the truck at their lower ends, and between each, at the opposite sides of the car, are positioned pivot blocks 29, which are pierced transversely in alignment with the apertures in brackets 25 to receive pivot pins 31. As viewed from the side, pivot blocks 29 are of H-shape, with pins 31 passing through the deep horizontal crossmember which is provided with upright double flanges 33 and 35 at each of its ends.

At each side a longitudinally extending anchor link of T -shape comprises a stem 37 elongated lengthwise of the truck, and an upright cross arm 39, which is secured to double flange 39 of pivot block 29 by vertically spaced bolts 41 passing through registering holes in the link and block flanges. To accommodate pivotal movement about a vertical axis, the bolt holes through flanges 35 are somewhat larger than the bolt diameter, the flanges are spaced apart from each other by annular elastomeric pads 43 surrounding bolts 41 and similar pads 43 and metal washers 45 space the nuts from the adjacent flanges. The vertical spacing of bolts 41 prevents pivotal movements, about a horizontal axis, of the link relative to pivot block 29. The ends of links 37, 39 remote from pivot blocks 29 are annularly flanged as at 45 and their extremities pass through holes in bolster brackets 27, there being annular elastomeric pads 27 surrounding the link extremities on both sides of bracket 27 and spacing the latter from link flanges 45 and from washers 49 and nuts 51 on the threaded extremities of links 37, 39, so as to accommodate limited pivotal movement of the link in all directions as may be required by vertical and transverse movements of underframe 23 relative to bolster 19 resulting from axial and shear deflections of springs 21.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that longitudinal forces will be transmittedbetween bolster 19 and body underframe 23 by compression and tension in links 37, 39, that relative transverse movements of bolster and underframe will be accommodated by transverse angling of links 37, 39 with respect to pivot block permitted by compression of annular elastomeric pads 43 and with respect to bolster brackets 27 by compression of elastomeric pads 47, and that relative vertical movements of underframe 23 and bolster 19 will be accommodated by pivoting of the links and pivot blocks 29 as a unit about pivot pins 31 and vertical angling of the links relative to bolster brackets 27.

To eliminate objectionable body roll, a torsion bar 55 extends transversely across the truck frame and has depending end portions 57, 57 received and rigidly secured in vertical grooves 58 in pivot block flanges 35 by vertically spaced U-bolts 59, so that when the body tends to roll and thereby produce counterrotation of anchor links 37 about pins 31, the tendency of the links to counterrotate will be opposed by torsional resistance of torsion bar 55, thus tending to equalize the heights of springs 21 at the opposite sides of the truck and prevent excessive roll.

It will be understood that modifications in the details of the stabilization means and of the truck frame, bolster, and underframe may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and the exclusive use of such variations as come within the appended claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway vehicle, supporting structure, upright springs supported on said supporting structure at both sides of the vehicle, structure supported on said springs and movable vertically and transversely of the vehicle with respect to said supporting structure, rigid links extending longitudinally of the vehicle at both sides thereof, separate elements pivotally connected on a transverse axis to one of said structures, first means pivotally connecting said separate elements on a vertical axis to one end of said links, second means pivotally connecting said links at their other ends to said other structure, and a torsion bar extending transversely of the vehicle, means rigidly connecting the ends of said torsion bar to said separate elements whereby when said supported structure tends to roll and thereby produce differential rotation of said links with respect to each other about an axis transverse of the vehicle, the tendency of said links to rotate differentially will be opposed by torsional resistance of said torsion bar thus tending to equalize the heights of said springs at both sides of the vehicle.

2. In a railway vehicle according to claim 1, said torsion bar having arms at its ends extending transversely of the axis of said torsion bar, said separate elements being secured to said arms.

3. In a railway vehicle according to claim 2, said means connecting each said separate element to one of said torsion bar arms and one of said links preventing rotation of the connected torsion bar arm, element and link with respect to each other about an axis transverse of the vehicle.

4. In a railway vehicle according to claim 3, said supporting structure comprising a transversely extending truck element and said supported structure comprising a body underframe.

5'. In a railway vehicle according to claim 4, brackets depending from said underframe and said truck element and effecting respectively the pivotal connection of said separate elements to said underframe and the securement of said second pivotal connecting means to said truck element.

6. In a railway vehicle according to claim 2, said torsion bar arms being normally substantially vertically disposed arms, and said separate element being secured to said arms and to said links at points vertically spaced from each other.

7. In a railway vehicle according to claim 2, said anchor link being of T-shape in side elevation with its cross arms vertically disposed and its stem substantially horizontally disposed, said additional securing means being effected through said cross arms.

8. In a railway vehicle according to claim 7, said element comprising a block of substantially H-shape in side elevation with its cross bar containing the pivotal axis transverse of the vehicle and its side members disposed vertically to form double flanges, said means securing said torsion bar arm and said link to said element being effected through said double flanges.

9. In a railway vehicle according to claim 8, said first connecting means comprising elongated fasteners connecting each of said anchor link cross arms with each of said connecting element adjacent flanges, and elastomeric pads positioned on said fasteners between opposing surfaces of said link cross arms and said connecting element flanges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,004,068 6/1935 Woodling 267-11 2,901,240 8/1959 Fikse 267-11 3,020,857 2/1962 Dean l05l99 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

